Hungry Ghost Moon 2006

[sarada]

... Offerings of ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost’s perfume of white sandalwood, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, crystalline musk and aloe. This scent is tapered by the presence of seven herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit and the purging of earthly concerns from the soul.

There are so many notes in this blend, and from so many different scent categories, I had no idea what to expect but was kind of thinking it would be a smoky, sugary grapefruit with a bit of sourness over a soft wooden base that kept it from being too fleeting.

This is pretty close to my guess, but it's even nicer than I expected. I love wood, resin and herbal scents, I like grapefruit and I'm open-minded to the smoky vanilla and sugar notes as well considering that I love Devil's Night but I am really taken on a journey by this scent.

It opens with the strong fruity, tangy sweetness of grapefruit, backed up by a resiny wooden core. It fades very fast on my skin. But, in my hair it sticks around a bit and I keep getting hits of this grapefruit candy scent with just a slight swirl of warmth and smoke.

As for similarities, if you like grapefruit used in surprising combination with other scents (as in Cheshire Cat) this might be another good one to try. And if you like the citrusy musk of Enraged Bunny Musk this is a different take on that kind of combo.

I know that this is a bit lighter and fruitier/sweeter than my tastes typically lean but I really like like having a growing collection of unusual, atypical scents like this to fit every mood and whim.

[aedes]

Wow! This is surprisingly good. Not that Beth isn't brilliant or anything, but I wasn't expecting to like a sugar/vanilla scent so much.

 

In the bottle, it smells very bubblegum-y. I'm surprised there isn't lotus in it from how it smells. It must be the grapefruit I'm picking up. On, it's vanilla, sugar, ho wood, which smells a bit like teak with a little bamboo "edge" to it, and grapefruit. So fun and sexy! Sweet, but not sticky or offensively so. Kind of a hollow, funky scent, like if it were a sound, it'd be bongos or bamboo wind chimes. I absolutely love it! *eats wrist*

[eggplant]

First applied, it smells like grapefruit and ginger. It quickly morphs into a sugary blend. I smell sugary lemons? With ginger. Yum!

 

update: This one lasts forever-at 11pm yesterday it was still going strong. And today it smells like generic strong cheap drugstore perfume. I'll give it another try and then pass it on.

Edited July 24, 2006 by eggplant

[Shannihilation]

In the bottle this is white grapefruit followed by the ginger candy and then the vanilla. In the background I can pick up the aloe and the white sandalwood. I really expected this to be more of a "foody" scent but instead it's very fresh and crisp and clean. But on my skin? It's absolutely dreamy! It's soft but with a nice throw, and I've had it on for an hour now and it hasn't faded at all. I'd swear this has honey it somewhere but maybe it's just the smoky vanilla. It's all sweetness and creamy with just barely an edge of spice. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this is. It's the sent of daydreams and wishes, which I guess goes along with purging earthly concerns from the soul. I wish I'd gotten two bottles because I can see this being one that I reach for often.

[Lorencita]

I hradly ever review.. but this is definately worth it! At first its bright and cheery sweet-tart grapefruit. Then about 10 mins later I get a creamy wave of complete and utter loveliness. I dont smell much wood, but I do get an herby edge from this scent. When it's completely dry, it is strong, yet soft... if that makes sense. This is beautiful from start to finish. I am so happy I have 2 bottles, I will use this all summer long. Oh, I forgot to mention, this scent loves the heat!!

[abejita]

On first sniff: "Oh, I am so going to find another bottle of this."

 

It's just that good. The white grapefruit is definitely in the forefront, followed by the sugary ginger. Other people have said that it's not nearly as foody as one would think from the notes listed, and I'd agree. The sandalwood, aloe, musk and herbs mellow that aspect. The vanilla is making it smoooooth. It's funny, I can get the rice wine note very clearly, and I didn't expect that.

 

Other people have described the scent way better than I can, so I'll just leave it at that. This is one of my all-time favorites and, for me, hands down the best out of the lunacies I've tried. Another plus is that the scent really blooms well in the heat. I had it on when I went to the gym this morning, and when I left it smelled even better.

 

10/10.

[kakiphony]

In the imp: Sugared lime. This reminds me of the bright green Mexican lime soda in the glass bottle.

 

Wet on skin: Still the sugared lime, but an undertone of something vaguely floral. So far, this is the best of the Asian moons on me. I'm hoping the ginger develops because I LOVE ginger.

 

Early Dry Down: Lime margarita. Sweet, but with tang. The boy, however, says it smells like "Those bathroom air fresheners where you pull the plastic things up to reveal the unnatural, jelly freshener thing." Oops.

 

Late dry down: As this dried it got more green and floral on me. The ginger is nonexistent and the sweet went from fruity/sugar to floral/tea sweet. I don't hate it, but the boy keeps wrinkling his nose at me. I think maybe that means I should swap this one.

 

ETA: I ended up giving this bottle to my sister, along with my bottles of Lotus Moon and Dragon Moon and about 16 imps in a pretty floral box. I'm trying very hard to enable her.

Edited July 23, 2006 by kakiphony

[AliBabble]

wow. this is a soft, cool, gently sweet scent with a lot of complexity...while wet, it strikes me as cool and green, like the inside of an aloe leaf, but i also smell the spicy ginger candy, and what i think is the rice wine, a little tart. a sugariness is there, but very subtle and sparkling, and a bit of fruitiness, but it reminds me of a white peach, rather than a real citrusy grapefruit. this is a gorgeous and very interesting scent, which gets sweeter and softer as it dries, a bit creamy. energizing and calming at the same time.

[dawndie]

In bottle: faint bubblegum

 

Initially on skin: I really get the rice wine right away, boozy and sharp. Plus no bubblegum, just a sweet candy smell without being too foody. Mmm, I love the ginger candy action

 

Half-hour later: more green and herby with a little bit of ginger candy. This stays close to the skin. Not too heavy, and really nice for summer.

[Little Bird]

Hee, I love the label for this one. In the bottle, this smells very herbal. Sort of a green fragrance with hints of a sweet grapefruit in the background. On me at first, the Hungry Ghost kinda smells like green meadow dryer sheets. Very clean.

 

I was hoping that this would be foodie on me, but it's not really. It does sweeten up a bit more and I get the 'sugar' in the drydown, but the clean dryer sheet smell is dominating on me. Sugar + dryer sheets is not good on me.

 

This one is a bit too musky dryer sheets on me, but the label art is cute. I never get any of the ginger candy, vanilla, woods, or resins that were mentioned. Hungry Ghost Moon isn't one that I'll wear much.

[The Perfumed Ferret]

In the bottle: Smoky ginger candy, vanilla, and aloe

 

On: Ginger vanilla candy, sandlewood, and rice wine.

 

This blend is amazing! I never thought that I would be able to wear a sweet blend, but Beth has done it! It just keeps getting better and better.

[valentina]

In the bottle, this is sweet! Very sugary and grapefruit-ginger. Interesting, but swa-weeet! On my skin, it's even sweeter! It's a ginger-sugar with what seems like a lemony tone, but I know that's the grapefruit. My Hungry Ghost is apparently a diabetic who can't shove enough lemon-flavored Jolly Ranchers and ginger drops in his mouth! Truly, I think this is a very young, breezy, fun blend for anyone who loves sweet scents and wants to try something with an Far Eastern flair. It reminds me of an Asian version of Hollywood Babylon, if that makes any sense -- very sweet, but with an interesting undertone of the not-so-sweet.

[Savannah]

Oh wow. This is quite lovely and complex. I was wondering how all those notes were going to smell together, but it seems like instead of all manifesting together, they all manifest in succession.

 

First off I get the grapefruit, very citrussy sweet. Then it's joined by other fresh, sweet scents-- I think this is the white musk and aloe I'm getting here-- rounded out by something deeper; at this stage it reminds me a bit of what I hoped Berenice would be, without the yucky linen note. It's very freshly sweet, too; I bet the sugar cane is involved in this stage.

 

A few hours later I'm getting what I eventually identified as a lovely round creamy vanilla, not at all cloying like many vanillas. It reminds me of the vanilla in Tombstone, sweet without being foody. I think I also detect some sandalwood here, and maybe some other woods or resins, but it's mostly just an enchanting vanilla. And I am not a vanilla girl.

 

Hours later still (this one REALLY sticks around, a miracle on my scent-eating skin!) it smells much spicier and more resinous. I don't really pick out a ginger scent in particular; I'm guessing this is some of the mystery ingredients popping up (ho wood? seven herbs, woods and resins) with the vanilla, sandalwood and white musk swirling around in the background. There doesn't seem to be any grapefruit or any of the fresh tartness from the initial application left, which is par for the course for my skin chemistry-- anything remotely "fresh" or "green" gets burned off in the first five minutes, I'm amazed the grapefruit lasted as long as it did here-- but this is an absolutely delicious scent. I'm sniffing my wrists obsessively.

 

I never really got any ginger from this, and I'm not sure I got anything I could identify as "rice wine", but this one was such a morpher, it's possible I just didn't happen to sniff my wrist while those were happening.

 

This is an absolutely gorgeous blend, every bit as good as I hoped, and amazingly complex. I'm really glad I splurged and got two bottles.

Edited July 23, 2006 by Savannah

[luxuria]

In the bottle, sweet fruits--definitely candy-like. On the skin, it mellows down a bit and I can tell it's clearly grapefruit, and what a gorgeous grapefruit note it is. There's a bit of creaminess backing it as well as something else. I can't quite tell what it is, maybe the aloe? This is pleasant and fabulous for summer.

[Em-]

Sweet candy like fruits. I really really wanted to love this one, and almost ordered two bottles, but I am discovering that as much as I love fruity scents, I like things to have a hint of sweetness with something a little darker, and HGM is just a tad too candy on my skin. It is lovely, but almost a little too much of a good thing.

[empi girl]

In the bottle: very light, difficult for me to get anything specific

 

When on, initially it is a strong citrus-fruit (think Fruity Stripes lime gum), very bright and sweet. Within minutes this fades slightly and the blend becomes sort of perfumy-tickles the nose a little bit, the way fizz from champagne will. This fades quickly also, and I am left with a softly sweet, vanilla-sugar-citrus musk, with a hint of ginger. It smells wonderful, very smooth, not overly sweet, nice throw (though the scent is light), and lasts for several hours.

 

This is the first of the moons I've tried that works great and is a definite keeper. A beautiful scent!

[Alchemy21599]

In the bottle: citrus and a lovely sweet fruit. Pomegranite (sp?)

 

Wet: grapefruit, tropical fruit and a lovely tea note.

 

Dry: this is such a complex scent that there isn't one note that stands out. What a lovely blend! I love this and I am so happy that I splurged on two bottles.

[circe_blue]

Ooo, my very first review!

 

In the bottle: green, citrusy and a bit woodsy as well.

 

Wet: Loads of sweet/sugary ginger and a hint of spicy woodsyness.

 

Dry, 40 minutes later: Ummm, am I the only person getting a light Chanel perfume from this?

 

This is a sophisticated but light and not overly stuffy scent. Very pretty!

[gangstaknitta]

In the bottle, the grapefruit/lime combo smells like melon to my nose. It doesn't smell as "woodsy" as I thought it would. I think that the sandalwood tones down the fruitiness of the other notes.

 

On my skin, it smells like melon--not sweet, though. It's very mild and has little throw, but it lasted all day on me (6+ hours). Normally my skin amps up fruit notes, but this one stayed pretty mellow and mild.

 

It's a lovely scent, just not one that I think I'll wear a lot.

[Silverstrike]

Yes! This is sweet and slightly floral/green, but if it's a floral, it may be the first BPAL floral I can wear. I cannot smell the ginger candy at all, at least not that I know of. At first sniff, it smells very tropical and sweet, but after it dries, there's a little something in there (the ho wood?) that seems to ground the fragrance so that it's not all sweet and light, now it has depth and whatever it is, it makes it smell more "expensive", I guess because it's multidimensional now. Anyhow, it's something I'd wear in the summer or on vacation (it really seems like a "vacation" scent) so I'm quite happy I picked up a bottle of this. It's the third moon I've tried (the other two were Milk Moon and Flower Moon; they did NOT agree with me) and the first I've bought, so I'm quite happy with my gamble. This scent doesn't smell like a hungry ghost, it very much does smell like the opposite, I guess what you'd use to try and placate a hungry ghost, so it fits.

 

I just hope someone asks me what I'm wearing so that I can say "Hungry Ghost Moon!"

[themerrybaker]

Hungry Ghost Moon - a snappy ginger blend tumescent with ho-wood? No, not really. More like a romantic tropical vacation with mango (definitely need to eat more fruit - but that's what I get) and vanilla. HGM is very feminine and so appropriate for hot summer weather - it just gets better & better as it dries.

 

I suppose this is the BPAL that breaks my rule against fruity blends!!

Edited July 23, 2006 by themerrybaker

[WaltzforZizi]

I haven't loved a Lunacy like Hungry Ghost Moon since Snow Moon. Strangely enough they're wildly different.

 

HGM is such a beautiful scent. The grapefruit and ginger really stand out. But it's a very sweet grapefruit, not tart at all. It is sweet but it doesn't get too candy-ish with me. Thank goodness. I really like it, and I'm glad I bought two bottles.

[Gale]

Hungry Ghost Moon is beautiful. It's really incredibly beautiful. Oh, and did I mention how

beautiful it is?

 

It doesn't change from bottle to drydown. Gorgeous, gingery and sweet. Fresh and delicious. There really isn't an adjective that can do this scent justice. I'm also glad that I got two bottles.

 

I won the best-smelling person in the office contest (which takes place daily in my head). Why? Because I'm wearing Hungry Ghost Moon!!!

[sarahmarie]

I'm going to try this without revisiting the scent description, just 'cause.

 

This is light and clean, and once on my skin, very tart and fruity. There are brief waves of other scents...sweetness and very light wood, with some sort of something else I can't identify thrown in that gets deeper as it dries. I think I like this, but it faded very quickly so I will have to give it another try.

 

ETA: On the second wear, I'm having a *lot* more success. It's crisp and tart and gingeriffic, grounded by the sweet woodiness. Very unique. It's morphing gently every now and then, and I think it's going to stick around longer, too. I think I'm really digging this blend!

Edited July 24, 2006 by sarahmarie

[Rheliwen]

Oh good lord is this fab! The boy and I were oohing and aahing at the scent from the bottle.

 

In the bottle its wet and tart with a exotic feel to it.

 

On, it turns into sweet sugar, grapefruit and other fresh scents (I think I smell a little aloe, but it's faint), vanilla, and very subtle pale sandalwood.

 

So original and so wonderful! It isn't foody fruity at all. I have gotten more compliments on it in the last 2 days than I have ever gotten on my entire BPAL collection...combined!